The investigation reported here examined the power of a set of 31 situational and attitudinal variables to predict delinquency among inner-city youth and to draw some conclusions about the causes of delinquency insofar as they may be empirically determined. The data were obtained through survey interviews with 837 male youth living in traditionally high delinquency areas of Chicago. Respondents ranged in age from 10 through 16 with roughly the same numbers, 119, at each year of age. 62 percent were Negro; the remainder were from Italian, Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Anglo backgrounds, in that order. The variables emerging as best predictors are: age, educational expectations, occupational aspirations, group memberships, and race. The most important finding of this exploratory study is the significant connection between the expectation for success in the conventional sense and differential rates of official misconduct. In addition, at least one of the components of this relatively poor outlook for conventional achievement, Educational Expectations, is antecedent and causally related to delinquency. This pessimism about later school achievement develops prior to the age of 10 and does not relate closely to objective measures of academic achievement. (Author/JM)